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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358661">Choosing a Side</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawningstars/pseuds/dawningstars'>dawningstars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Nobody Dies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:54:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358661</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawningstars/pseuds/dawningstars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Elizabeth had gone back to save Norrington?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Norrington/Elizabeth Swann</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Choosing a Side</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey there! This has been in a Word doc for years, and now that I'm back in a fic writing groove, I figured I'd finally share it. A little Christmas present for you!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Come with us,” she said, and he heard her resolve solidify with each word. He looked at her with his brow furrowed, thrown off balance.</p>
<p>“James, come with me,” she said, looking at him fully now, her voice softly emphatic. Once again, he was astonished by how entirely he was in her thrall. He felt a dim sense of bitterness yawn in his gut. Not directed at her. Just at the timing. It was the timing of it all—the irony—that made him want to laugh, or retch, or both.</p>
<p>Startled and euphoric and frustrated and hopeful, he struggled for words until a shout above called him back to the (even more) precarious situation he’d put Elizabeth in by taking her outside the brig. He threw an arm out, hurling Elizabeth behind him. James looked at the trembling, unstoppable woman beside him. He’d do whatever it took to ensure her wellbeing. There was no irony here. Just a sad, weary song nearing its end, to be continued in a movement he’d never hear.</p>
<p>“Go. I will follow.” He scanned their surroundings for the threat, trying to focus on anything but Elizabeth beside him. If he looked, he’d be selfish. He avoided her eyes, but she saw straight through him.</p>
<p>“You're lying,” she hissed. A part of him was thrilled by the concern and care in her accusation.</p>
<p>“Our destinies have been entwined, Elizabeth, but never joined.” His words were nowhere near as concise, nor as tender, as the brief, hesitant kiss he brushed against her lips.</p>
<p>He’d dreamed of kissing Elizabeth Swann more times than he could begin to count, but even in his darkest moments, he’d allowed himself the luxury of imagining that their first kiss would not also be their last.</p>
<p>“Go, now,” James ordered gruffly. He heard her scramble reluctantly but nimbly onto the line. He blocked the procession with his body as a figure loomed—a grubby, waterlogged man with a starfish fastened to his face.</p>
<p>“Back to your station, sailor,” he said tersely. Elizabeth had stopped on the line. Keep moving, for the love of God. He didn’t want to cut the line and drop her into the water, but if he were not able to avert the crewman, it would give her her best chance.</p>
<p>“No one leaves the ship,” the drenched man said blankly.</p>
<p>“Stand down. That's an order.” He said it both to the pirate in front of him and to Elizabeth, who had clambered back onboard before he could draw his pistol. She inched forward at his side. He quickly put himself between the monstrous sailor and Elizabeth.</p>
<p>“That’s an order?” the sailor echoed, distantly. The words seemed to recall something to him.</p>
<p>“Part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship—” he chanted.</p>
<p>“Steady, man!”</p>
<p>“Part of the crew, part of the ship...”</p>
<p>Elizabeth stepped forward again and the chanting quieted, as if he were slightly mollified by the reappearance of one of the prisoners.</p>
<p>“Bootstraps? Bootstrap Bill? It’s me, Elizabeth,” she whispered. He couldn’t afford to turn and look in her eyes, but it would appear that they had met. Her words snapped Bootstraps out of it.</p>
<p>“You know my name?” There was a note of genuine wonder in his tone.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know your son, Will Turner.” This was the father of Will Turner?.</p>
<p>“William! He’s coming for me, you know,” he informed her happily.</p>
<p>“Yes, yes he is,” she said. Elizabeth sounded exhausted. “But he needs my help to come get you.”</p>
<p>“Elizabeth, you’re Elizabeth. Will shouldn’t come for me. Tell him not to come for me.”</p>
<p>“I will, if you’ll let us find him.”</p>
<p>“...Yes, go. Go, quickly,” he muttered, stalking back into the filmy green darkness.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Bootstraps.”</p>
<p>“You know my name,” Bootstraps repeated cheerfully, showing no sign of returning.</p>
<p>Elizabeth grabbed James by the shoulders.</p>
<p>“I’m not leaving without you,” she insisted, and he knew she meant it. He wasn’t sure they could trust that Turner would not return. There wasn’t any choice, even without the threat the crewmen presented.</p>
<p>Yes. He had chosen a side. It was not the Royal Navy’s, nor that of the Brethren Court. He’d built his entire life on faith in a dichotomy of good and evil, only to discover that there was no black and white order beyond that which he projected onto the world. Outside of the proper circumstances, he was no hero. He’d found grayness in everything and everyone.</p>
<p>So, in the end, he chose the side he had always chosen.</p>
<p>He would follow Elizabeth Swann. To the ends of the Earth, and beyond.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'd love to hear what you thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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